90 comments:

I'm going to put this out there- why is it such a big deal if Rep. Wrangel is in Congress? Does anyone really think his replacement wouldn't be a another Democratic member of the Congressional Black Caucus?

There's a Republican House now, so he's never going to have a committee chairmanship again, so... why not get someone new?

Who among us does know how much longer he or she has to live? How is he unique in this regard and why should this even be a factor? If you believed you were imminently going to meet your Maker, wouldn't you conduct yourself to a HIGHER ethical standard?

I don't suppose this "censure" involves actually giving up any of the money or property that Mr. Rangel illegally amassed, does it?

For that matter, for $165,000 per year, plus benefits, plus retirement, I'd be willing to stand in the well of the House for an entire day while Congresscritters rebuked and censured me. It would be tough, but I'm strong -- I could take it.

Jason (the commenter) said...All the House is going to do is say "I rebuke you" plus some other words, in public. He'd hear a lot worse if he went and talked to voters.

Not from his voters--they just reelected them.

On O'Reilly last night they showed a scen from Godfather II:

Tom Hagen: When a plot against the Emperor failed... the plotters were always given a chance... to let their families keep their fortunes. Right?

Frank Pentangeli: Yeah, but only the rich guys, Tom. The little guys got knocked off and all their estates went to the Emperors. Unless they went home and killed themselves, then nothing happened. And the families... the families were taken care of.

Tom Hagen: That was a good break. A nice deal.

Frank Pentangeli: Yeah... They went home... and sat in a hot bath... opened up their veins... and bled to death... and sometimes they had a little party before they did it.

Oh... what does it matter? It's the same thing as with Larry Craig... they're all crooks, and they'll do almost anything to avoid kicking out one of the members of their elitist club. Even corrupt scumbag Duke Cunningham wasn't out of office until after he pled guilty to a whole bunch of felonies...

And yet all you Althousians seem to think that having Republicans back in control means that things will be clean-as-a-whistle from now on. Bullshit!

But go ahead and enjoy your schadenfreude party now. Just try to ignore the sound of your country withering on its death bed in the background.

What he got charged with was just the tip of the iceberg. What was spent on that Apollo restoration project could have built every Harlem resident a condo in Malibu.....No politician truly believes his life is finite or that his leadership is replaceable. Wilson, after a crippling stroke, did not resign and even contemplated running for a third term. Look at pictures of Roosevelt at Yalta. The man is half dead, and he feels capable of negotiating the fate of the world.. Check out any number of superannuated Supreme Court Justices who believe that what they lack in bladder control they more than make up for in wisdom....Rangel thinks that he will outlive Thurmond.

If you think it's as much of an ethical lapse for a white Republican to make some kind of pass at another man as it is for a black Democrat to spend decades breaking local, state, and federal law to enrich himself while arguing that anybody who resisted his party's demands for more of the public's money wanted to bring back slavery, yes.

In Miami, years ago, the octagenarian head of the United Teachers of Dade was convicted of stealing from his own union. It was flagrant and ongoing. He used the "I'm gonna die any minute" tactic at sentencing and got a slap on the wrist (i.e. minor prison time in a cushy location).

He left prison more hale and hearty than a 50 year old and is still living high.

He profited every time he was supposed to pay taxes and didn't; every time he used facilities that could have been rented and weren't. We the taxpayer lost cuz we had to make up the slack for him. In his view, taxes are for the little people, not for powerful men like him.

Worse yet, the NYT calls him an "octogenarian" in order to invoke sympathy for him. Why, he's just an old doddering guy. For real? He sure didn't dodder about hiding that foreign real estate did he?

The majority are boomers and younger. What is troubling is the prodigious numbers of those in office elected to double digit terms. As voters we should discipline ourselves to a standard of 'term limits.'

Enough is enough. Power corrupts, etc.

And no amount of ill-gotten gains, funny money, or boodle would ever be worth the risk of being chided.

"And yet all you Althousians seem to think that having Republicans back in control means that things will be clean-as-a-whistle from now on. Bullshit!"

I don't know any rational, informed people that think this at all. If anything, it's far more of a "we're watching you like a hawk" mentality. The problems we're facing require militant vigilance. Most of the pols in Washington that are north of 50-year-old don't quite grasp how easy that is now.

Rangle is a thief and a scofflaw. He deserves the public humiliation that is his due. He has no honor and knows it. Finally being held accountable his only defense is that he is a victim reduced to tears as he attempts to blame the paperwork that he authored.

Rangel is a liberal democrat and thus intent trumps the deeds themselves. He had a good heart and worked for the poor, so the fact that he was a thief, a tax cheat, an abuser of rent controlled housing and a liar should be overlooked.

A censure. He won't be expelled, won't face a day in jail, but his poor frail old heart can't take a censure.

Censure and a few bucks will buy you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. It's what passes for punishment for the political class but really means nothing. Obeying the law and suffering the consequences for not doing so are for the little people.

Reading the 99% negative comments here on Rangel saddens me. He was a Harlem NYC representative that took on and beat Adam Clayton Powell. He has served his district for 40 years. In Atlanta such men are not despised. White Southerners are not haters of our African American cousins. But it amazes me to see the level of hate for a good man named Charlie Rangel over his missteps in his late 70s. That is beyond the pale in the South where we respect old warriors from both sides for their days of service. I suspect all of these self righteous legalistic comments are from northerners that still maintain a secret hate for African Americans who dare to claim acceptance. MLK in the 60s had an easy success here in Atlanta but he got nowhere near that success on his visit to Chicago. And how many of you also assume the current smears of Michael Steele are true because that's just the way you see it.

"And yet all you Althousians seem to think that having Republicans back in control means that things will be clean-as-a-whistle from now on. Bullshit!"

Funny how idiots on the left misstate reality. It was Nancy Pelosi who made a big deal about the "culture of corruption". But now the very idiots who cheered her on claim that everyone knows this was a bipartisan problem. But of course, that's our point.

Sometimes you just have to wonder what happenned to these people. Something terrible must have happened to them to cause such a negative reaction over every single little thing.

Traditionalguy: I sweat it out with you in the summers down here in the sweet sunny south. I have the deepest respect for the cohorts you reference, guys like John Lewis whose courage was indisputable. But I believe it does a great disservice to their accomplishments and their own heroism to ignore misdeeds in the present. Lewis' complicity in the phony spitting incident after health care passage is a case in point. I think it diminishes him just as I believe Rangle's misdeeds diminish his own considerable achievements. I yield to no man in my defense of and respect for the men and women who risked all during the civil rights struggles, but the sanctity of that cause did not excuse even its most heroic from abiding by our laws.

Wow traditionalguy you couldn't be more wrong. The congressman from Harlem has been a crook for the last one hundred years.

When the Italians controlled Harlem the congressman was Vito Marcantonio the Mafia basicily controlled him as he was a real left wing commie pinko type but took his orders from Ciro Terranova and Frank Costello.

The Adam Clayton Powell came in and took with both hands till he was thrown out by Congress.

Now Rangel. He was a grasping crook for a long time running black politics in Manhattan with Percy Sutton, Dinkins and Basil Patterson the current lame duck governor's father. They whacked up government dough going to foundations and not for profits since the 1960's.

New York City Machine politics has always been a dirty business. Wether the Irish the Italians or the blacks run it. Don't fool yourself. Color has nothing to do with it.

Trooper...You say that Rangel did standard politics in NYC and that has been corrupt system since forever. So how about some respect for Rangel's endurance living within that political system that he found himself in. His elimination from leadership is for Pelosi's benefit because his seniority got him Chair of the Ways and Means committee which is as powerful as the Speaker....and he probably never paid his parking tickets either. He shall be eliminated which will also please the partisans of the right with this two for one move. And I liked the guys personality on TV a lot.

Traditionalguy, an old whore is still a whore. Why do you want to celebrate him?

He has stolen with both hands and called everyone who questioned him about anything a racist. He never saw a tax he didn't want to raise or an entitlement he didn't want to increase. He is what is wrong with American Politics root and branch.

It's too late for him to ask for forgiveness. He never gave any to his political opponents. He branded everyone who opposed him a racist.

There is an old store about the Mets catcher Jerry Grote. When he was a big time player he would push past the reporters and spit at them and refuse to answer their questions. In the last year of his career when he was riding the bench he would go to the writers and try to strike a conversation to get himself some positive ink. Maury Allen of the Post said "Why is he trying to say hello when it is time for him to say goodbye."

It's time to say goodbye Charlie. Let’s get a new young up to date cyber crook in there who can steal in new and more modern ways. It's time to say goodbye.

Benedict Arnold's heroism was indisputable at the Battle of Saratoga (hence the boot statue) but he succumbed to lucre when he tried to sell West Point to the british--Not a dimes worth of difference between the two.

Trooper ...Was Boss Tweed the character shown in Gangs of New York as the master political alliance maker? If so, then I did understand him. Politics is about people fearing you. And I agree that Rangel needs to leave the public scene. He is past his sell by date.

Adam Clayton Powell wasn't expelled. He was excluded, and he sued and won when the US Supreme Court said he couldn't be excluded (only expelled) for his misdeeds. He was later defeated in a primary by Charles Rangel.